My present invention relates to a ski.
In all conditions of motion on snow (longitudinal movement, skidding, turning . . . ) a ski is subject to vibratile phenomena which are the larger the higher the speed and the harder the snow. These vibrations, which bring about interruptions in the contact between the ski and the snow, lead to a directional instability and to a reduction in the adherence to hard snow; moreover, they impair the comfort of the skier.
In order to improve the performance and the comfort, it has already been proposed to damp the vibrations; for this purpose the idea has been conceived to incoporate in the ski structure, over its entire length, a band of viscoelastic material. Such skis have been described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,844,576 and 3,901,522; they actually provide good comfort but lack vivacity, are slow and perform on hard snow in a not entirely satisfactory manner.
Starting with this state of the art, I have carried out studies and investigations which have led to the conclusion that not all vibrations of a ski are harmful and that, while some of them require damping or partial elimination, others should be preserved; thus, in my commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 257,114 filed Apr. 24, 1981, now U.S. Pat. 4,405,149, there have been described and claimed skis which, thanks to the positioning and the dimensional relationship of the damping elements of the aforementioned type, are suitable for particular modes of use, namely for a vacation ski and a giant-slalom ski.